Bucks GOP-endorsees win state committee races
As of late Tuesday evening, Pennsylvania Republican State Committee candidates endorsed by the Bucks County Republican Committee (BCRC) appear to have swept their elections.
Winners included former State Representative Meghan Schroeder and former Register of Wills Don Petrille. They shared the BCRC endorsement with Diane Dowler, Raymond Goodnoe, Henry Van Blunk, Robert Sellers, Joseph Sroka, Colleen Strunk, Nick Bordner, Tom Panzer, David Breidinger, Savannah McCloskey, Ellen Cox, Candace Cabanas, Sean Radomski, Amalia Ritter, Michelle Benitez, and Stephanie Shortall.
At this writing, all aforementioned candidates are poised to secure state committee seats with comfortable margins.
Both major parties task their state committee members with electing the commonwealth’s party leaders, approving or rejecting any changes to organizational rules, and, often, endorsing candidates for statewide election before primaries are held. BCRC Chair Pat Poprik ascribed the GOP-endorsed slate’s success to diligence and merit.
“We worked hard and we had the better candidates,” she said. “We did the process that we’re supposed to do and our committeepeople recommended them to the voters and they trusted their recommendation.”
Andy Meehan, a financial advisor who challenged Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick in 2020’s Republican primary, led a slate of hopefuls backed by RightForBucks, an organization Meehan founded to steer local GOP efforts in a rightward direction.
Rick Arnott, Ron Arooj, Frank Barnhardt, Sharon Clancy, Liz Diehl, Mike Domanico, Barbara Garwood, CC Giscombe, Fran Grous, Keith Hoffman, Kevin Lee, Mary Vigna, and Lisa Von Deylen joined Meehan’s roster. Renee Fagan also sought a state committee seat without the county party’s endorsement and independent of either slate.
RightForBucks desires numerous changes to party practices and rules. The association and its allied members on the BCRC have pursued a multifaceted path, including legal action, to challenge the county committee’s bylaws, whose legitimacy RightForBucks disputes.
The litigation has concerned whether the bylaws were properly certified when they went into effect 54 years ago and whether proxy voting was properly used in 2022 when BCRC members reelected Poprik, who RightForBucks frequently criticizes, as chair. The county committee’s next reorganizational meeting, including officer elections, is expected to take place this June.
A new lawsuit Meehan said RightForBucks supports, he said, aims to involve the Pennsylvania GOP in creating new bylaws before new county committeepeople vote on BCRC’s top executives.
“That’s what we’re gunning for here,” Meehan said. “That’s the focus of everything we’re doing for the next six weeks: connecting with the committee members about the bylaws and the need for reform.”
Among the changes RightForBucks wants to see include different rules on party endorsements. When the state or county party recommends a candidate for nomination, its leaders generally expect committee members to back that candidate in a primary. Some view that process as an effective means to vet potential nominees and build organizational strength while others see it as a heavy-handed way to stifle intraparty dissent and limit voters’ choices.
But regardless, Meehan argued, the party rules as written don’t compel committee members to distribute sample ballots listing endorsed candidates in primaries, and he complained that committee leaders treated that practice as an obligation.
“If it’s such an established process and so great, you would’ve put it into your bylaws,” he said.
Poprik contended that the county committee made its state party endorsements as a matter of course owing to the candidates’ longstanding involvement in Bucks County GOP activities.
“The first thing [voters] are getting [from the endorsees] is knowledge of what goes on with the party,” she said. “Many of the people from the other side never were involved, never were committeepeople.”
The chair said that while she can’t comment extensively on the new litigation, she said the party has “won at almost every junction and they [RightForBucks] appeal” when the two sides have faced off in court before.
The Bucks County Democratic Committee (BCDC) also endorsed a slate of candidates for the Democratic State Committee, though that team faced little competition. Only two candidates — Seema Kazmi, and Kyle Esposito — ran without their county party’s imprimatur.
After midnight on Tuesday, those candidates trailed BCDC backed hopefuls Eleanor Breslin, Leann Hart, Marlene Katz, Jessica Malobisky, Nastasha Raisley, Emily Smith, Liz Warren, Ijaz Chaudry, Umar Farooq, John Lewis, Connor O’Hanlon, Paul Roden, and Steve Wojciechowski.
Editor’s note: This article’s headline was adjusted for brevity and precision.
Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.
